The Capitals Lockout Gang started at about a dozen strong back on Sept. 17.

But as hopes of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement diminish with each passing day, so do the number of Capitals who have spent every weekday morning skating at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.

With Nicklas Backstrom reuniting with Alex Ovechkin as the newest member of the KHL’s Dynamo Moscow and Matt Hendricks returning to his home in Minnesota, the Lockout Gang was down to four on Friday – forwards Jason Chimera and Jay Beagle and defensemen Mike Green and John Carlson.

“Every person that goes it’s more money out of our pockets,” Chimera said with a laugh. “We’re scrounging meal money together to get some ice. And it’s not cheap ice here in Arlington [$360 an hour].”

Chimera said he’s talked to some former teammates in Columbus and is considering skating there for a few days next week. If not, he may take a drive to Philadelphia, where a handful of locked-out Flyers are skating in Voorhees, N.J.

“With four guys out here you’re certainly not getting better,” he said. “Some guys are looking for some different options. Everyone is so different. Some guys have no kids, some guys have kids, some guys are in places where a lot of NHLers are and they’ve got good skates going, too.”

Mike Ribeiro is one of the other Capitals still living in the area and he’s been skating with his son’s hockey team.

Beagle said he and Carlson plan on using the ice at Kettler through at least next week, when they are scheduled to work with Jeff Halpern’s power skating coach, Wendy Marco.

“Six guys, three guys, it doesn’t make much difference,” Beagle said. “We wanted to try it out today and see how the skate would go. I actually thought it was a little better just because we didn’t play 3-on-3 or 2-on-2 at the end. Me and Hendy aren’t big fans of the 3-on-3 or the 2-on-2 half ice. It gets a little old.”

Beagle, who is from Calgary, said he’s staying in the area because he’s actually encouraged by the progress made by the owners and players this week, even though both sides failed to accept each other’s proposals.

“If talks weren’t going on I’d probably go back to Calgary,” Beagle said. “But with what happened this week it kind of makes you hopeful again. I hopefully think something’s going to get done soon. It’s a far way to go all the way back to Calgary for maybe a week, maybe two weeks and come back.”

The Capitals take on the Montreal Canadiens to finish off a four-game road swing on Monday (7:30 p.m., NBC Sports Washington). Washington has won two of its first three games on the trip and look to take win No. 3 in Montreal.

Here are four things to watch:

Braden Holtby is back, but Pheonix Copley will get the start

The Caps reassigned Ilya Samsonov to the Hershey Bears on Monday signaling that Braden Holtby will be back in the lineup for Monday’s game, but Pheonix Copley will still get the start.

Copley has been impressive on the road trip getting all three starts thus far with a .922 save percentage and 2.01 GAA. It says a lot that even with Holtby back, the Todd Reirden is still willing to put in Copley. Per Isabelle Khurshudyan, Reirden said he wanted to get Holtby back into his routine before starting him.

No Oshie, no Kuznetsov

T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov were both injured in Wednesday’s game and will be out of the lineup in Montreal.

It is important to remember that when the Caps finally get healthy, they will have two extra forwards on the roster. While the Caps can afford to keep two, most teams typically only carry one and Washington may look to trim one of those extra forwards in the coming weeks. That makes games like this one where more players are getting into the lineup and getting more minutes because of Oshie and Kuznetsov’s absence critical for those players who may or may not be fighting to stay on Washington’s roster.

Todd Reirden remembers

The last time these two teams met, things did not go that well for the Caps. Washington had a 4-3 lead late in the third period, but the Canadiens would score three goals in the final 3:04 of the game to win it 6-4.

“It was a situation where a few weeks ago we had the lead and let it go against Montreal and it was something that we discussed with our team,” Reirden said following Friday’s game.”

Reirden reminded the players about how that game ended as a way to motivate them in Colorado. How much more will he remind them about it on Monday in a rematch against the Canadiens and will it lead to a stronger finish for Washington?

Max (Power) Domi

Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin has been widely criticized for many of the moves he has made while with the Canadiens. It appears this summer, however, like he may have done something right.

Bergevin acquired forward Max Domi from the Arizona Coyotes for Alex Galchenyuk. It is a deal that looked decidedly one-sided in favor of Arizona, but let’s take all of the context out of it for one moment and just look at how Domi is performing right now. He looks like a tremendous player.

Domi has already racked up 10 goals in just 20 and comes into Monday on a nine-game point streak, a streak that started on Nov. 1 in the game against Washington. He has far and away been the team’s top offensive threat this season and leads Montreal in points with 24, seven more than second-place Tomas Tatar.

Speaking of Tatar, he is also someone the Caps will have to look out for as he has seemingly settled in with his new team and has six goals in his last six games.

Well, on Monday, Washington has a chance to grab three out of four wins on their road trip in a stretch that feels like it could be a turning point on a sluggish start to the season.

At 9-7-3, there’s no question the Caps were hoping for a better start to the season considering all the players they had coming back. Having said that, given all the challenges they have faced to start the season (Tom Wilson’s suspension, all the injuries), first year head coach Todd Reirden has done a decent job to get the team to this point.

Now a quarter of the way in, however, it’s time to pick things up and make a run.

What a difference Wilson makes. The Caps look like a completely different team with him in the lineup. When he first started playing on the top line last season, he looked a bit out of place, but that’s definitely no longer the case. He adds so much more than just physicality. He is a good skater, wins board battles and has the offensive and defensive ability to make that top line defensively balanced while still being so dangerous offensively. Not only does he look tremendous on the top line, but the Caps also really struggle to fill his spot in the lineup when he’s out. If you still think he’s nothing more than a goon, you’re just not paying attention to all the positives he brings to the lineup.

The Caps have found a backup goalie. I have gone back and forth on Pheonix Copley, but there’s no denying how well he has played when the team needed him the most. He looked great in the preseason, shaky to start, but he has gotten better with each game. With Holtby’s injury, Copley was forced to start three road games in four days and he provided solid, strong goaltending. In seven appearances this season, Copley has a 2.65 GAA, .908 save percentage and, most importantly, a record of 4-2-1. He is not nearly as smooth a goalie as Holtby, but he has great size which he uses to his advantage specifically down low. He has also looked great on breakaways and odd-man rushes. The question of backup goaltending now looks officially settled.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen John Carlson with Dmitry Orlov as a pair. They played a few games together at the start of last season and they looked horrible together. Putting Orlov with Matt Niskanen and Carlson with Michal Kempny provides much more balanced pairings, but it just wasn’t working this season. Interestingly enough, all four players have looked better the last few games since switching it up. Perhaps the pairs had gotten stale and they just needed time apart, but for now the switch is working.

Madison Bowey may be the most improved player on the roster this season and is playing with a lot more confidence on both ends of the ice. That first NHL goal is coming.

How improved the Caps look with Wilson back plus how the team banded together in the wake of so many significant injuries gave them a boost this week.